Reviews

The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky

sidharthvardhan's review against another edition

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3.0

"Do you know that sometimes I could kill you?—not because I do not love you, or am jealous of you, but, because I feel as though I could simply devour you..."

Droversky was once obssessed by gambling and that must had helped him in bringing out Alexi's obssession for same. Alexi is a youth full of spirit. Like most young man he is too optimistic and this optimism along with his love for Polina takes him to roullete. Despite his constant ramblings, he fails to see that Polina's love for himself. Polina's outburst and Alexi's ramblings towards the end shows the genuis in Droversky's understanding of human psycholgy.

Droversky meant to point out that gambling is a vice. All who gambled on behalf of finally end up in major losses. This was in tone with his own experience.

P.S. Blanche De Cominges is now one of my favorite characters.

weejman33's review against another edition

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3.0

I cannot fathom reading “The Brothers Karamazov” and actually enjoying it.

lauuuuva's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

stolb's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

phoenix2's review against another edition

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3.0

The Gambler is my favourite Dostoyevsky so far. It has a solid story that leads to the outmost disaster of its main character. All in all, the book is a vivid representation of the fall of the character, of the gambling addiction and the society of the time. As it's quite small, it's easy to read, lighter than other Dostoyevshy books for sure and nicely written. So, I highly reccomend this one to anyone who wants to read Dostoyevsky but finds it hard to do so.

oftboolt's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

catarinaduarte30's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

brg101010's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No

2.0

budderboy's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective tense

3.5

murinius's review against another edition

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3.0

Not Dostoyevsky gambling the rights to publish his previous works by dictating a novel in three weeks which he called The Gambler... I was having so much fun reading this that I was thinking "Oh! Fyodor Mikhailovich wrote a comedy of errors. This feels like a normal book. It's actually quite humorous!" Then you reach the end and realise that, yeah, this is certainly the comedy of errors that Dostoyevsky would write.